Psst, hey kid, wanna buy a book? · 2:50am Jul 24th, 2019
‘Cause I’ve got books.
I’ve already blogged about them, but just in case you missed it, I’ve got The Haunting, Fanfare for the Common Mare (a collection of Slice of Life pony stories) and Sam and Rose.
Edit: price currently not set--and they’ll be available at the Golden Oaks bookstore at Bronycon. If you can’t make it, or if they sell out, they’ll be available on Lulu somewhat after Bronycon. How soon after depends on how long it takes me to fix a few typos that crept in.
That’s one scary thing about having your books printed. Anybody who reads my stories and reads the comments knows full well that even with a full crew of pre-readers, mistakes still creep in, and I can easily correct them on the internet. It’s not so easy when it’s printed; they’re there for posterity.
Besides a couple of errors Darkenetor found after I’d already ordered the books, I’ve also already found two typos.
And I’m sure there are more.
That’s okay, though; it’s my first day on the job.
Moving right along, last weekend was Trotcon. My trip down there was a bit of an adventure; I-94 was closed outside Ann Arbor so my GPS actually advised me to take a dirt road to get around the traffic jam. Just south of Toledo, there was another slowdown due to a multi-car accident, and just after that, my right tail light fell off. I pulled over and unplugged it (it was hanging by the wires), tossed it on the floorboard, and then remembered that I didn’t have a current insurance certificate for the van, so I downloaded the Allstate app on the fly (kids, don’t do this at home). A van with out-of-state plates and a missing right rear tail light is a cop magnet . . . which reminds me, sometime I’ve got to tell y’all about getting pulled over in a S-10 that was missing the entire front clip except for one headlight. That was good times, and the cop never mentioned that, despite turning around to pull me over. 
My manager suggested I take a different route to Columbus to avoid I-75, but he forgot to tell me that 199 is closed near Perrysburg. Luckily, there were back roads around that. 
Trotcon’s a nice con. It’s kinda small, but friendly and laid-back. I hung out with the usual crew, Wanderer D, ROBCakeran53 (he wrote Amigo, you know), Trick Question, Uncreative, Present Perfect (to whom I gifted a batpony plush), Max, Tim(?), Blue Cultist (I think), Holly Oats, Out of Work Derpy, Silver Quill, Bad Horse, Jedi Master Ed, and I’m sure I’m forgetting at least one person. Also Fiaura and I debated some random horse facts.
ROB had an old label printer he found and went around printing up labels for everyone, that was fun. He also printed out the first couple of paragraphs of My Little Dashie, and sold it at the charity auction.
I typed up something for the writing contest on my trusty old Smith-Corona, which is now putting an extra space after every ‘a’. I don’t know if that’s a problem with the typewriter or the user, to be honest. You can find it here, re-formatted for the internet. 33 of you already have!
I also got started on a new stupid story. Really only a couple of paragraphs in, and starring (in part) this pony:
From the Gameloft game, I presume
And it also uses some of the headcanon debate Fiaura and I had! That’s not exactly a bonus, but you won’t find that out until I finish and publish the story.
Before I close the blog, I also want to mention that the Flex [from Flex (tape won’t fix this)] came back to the shop after another home repair done wrong, and I’ve also got a couple more mechanic adventures for y’all which I hope to write up before Bronycon, and also I do still need to do the blog post for Sam and Rose.
Also maybe do a better repair to my taillight than Gorilla tape. Although it’s holding nicely. . . .
Oh, yeah, I also got that adorable Derpy plush at Trotcon.
Lookin' forward to Bronycon!
Derpy, stop fucking around, and get back to work. My memes aren’t delivering themselves.
there is so much "Daahhww" of adorableness in this post ^^
and good luck selling your awesome work, may the profit with you :D
I considered putting in my book the comments section up to this point. I didn't, but I thought it was an interesting idea.
What you think?
Love your Derpy plush!
Since I know you'll follow through, I'll probably wait until after con and get the Lulu copies (unless you prefer I get them at con). That makes it easier on me because I'm going to have to lug back a lot of delicious books from BC. Don't let me forget, though.
Also lemme know how to settle for the room, whenever. Either way I'll chuck you a copy of my book at BC.
5093306
I know, me too! It’s gonna be amazing. It’s gonna be magical.
5093307
derpicdn.net/img/view/2019/6/30/2079103.jpeg
5093308
I’ll be happy with ‘break even,’ honestly.
Only $10? Then I gave my smuggler one hell of a tip.
5093313
One of my friends who’s an artist on tumblr had to figure out how to work that into his published comic, and mentioned some of the issues with that. . . .
I dunno if comments would add to a published work or not; I suppose it would depend on the nature of the comments. If I hadn’t been lazy, I would have quoted some of them in my books just for the funzies.
I did debate the merits of including blogs in two of my stories (Sam and Rose and Fanfare for the Common Mare), but I decided not to.
5093315
She’s adorable. Also more expensive than my last minivan, but totally worth it.
5093324
Either’s fine with me. Maybe wait until Sunday; if I’ve got lots left, it’ll be less I’ve got to lug back home and figure out how to sell later. And if I do sell out, then there’ll be the Lulu option--but it’s totally up to you, I’m not gonna twist your arm one way or another.
Eh, I got a mostly full bag of Doritos that you left behind . . . I will hit you up for that book, though.
5093334
Only $10 per book, it’s a hell of a bargain.
5093332
i.chzbgr.com/full/9315792128/h988F5C59/
Perfectly Balanced, as all things should be.
5093341
Indeed.
I think the maximum time between me opening up a brand new book from my Lulu order to finding a typo is two minutes, ten seconds. I have a greater and greater respect for real I-have-to-write-to-live authors every time I do anything with those things. Just sat down and did a full inventory of my stuff, so I'm ready to head out. Well, next week, or I'd be sitting in the hotel forever. :)
If one of these days I get a mechanic situation interesting enough, could I 'guest star' in one of those blogs?
5093350
The good news (for some values of ‘good news’) is that I didn’t even have to open the book to find a typo . . . it’s right there on the back cover for everypony to see.
One difference is the real authors have paid editors to make sure there aren’t mistakes, and most of us aren’t so blessed.
Just the same, I prefer the proper spirit we’ve got here over some corporate drone any day of the week, even if it means a few errors get through. We just learn for the next time, that’s all.
I’m a day or two away from full panic mode. That sort of blissful feeling after a con, looking at a giant pile of books and not thinking too hard about any errors which may be contained therein, the good thoughts about Baltimore not yet overshadowed by the ‘how many pairs of clean underwear do I actually have?’ moment that comes before any con . . . at least I’ll be there a day early with nothing to do but schlep a bakers dozen typewriters to Quills and Sofas, a crapton of books to the Golden Oaks bookstore, and two or three bags of a friend’s art for his booth to deal with.
Also the likelihood that my licence plate will be expired by the time I head back from the con, but really that’s Future Admiral Biscuit’s problem. I hear jails in Ohio are really nice.
5093353
You’re darn right you could.
I know you’ve got just as many interesting tales as I do, so don’t hold out!
Maybe one reqason for keep finding typos in printed books is like the FBI yellow dots on printed pages. Its a print or other ID method?
Like fake words in dictionaries and fake locations on maps that people then go and build a town on because they were there?
And that's why I refuse to travel. There's so many things that can and will go wrong.
Filly Anon goes to Bronycon. You know you want to.
It was nice to meet you.
5093395
That’s certainly a possibility. Lyrics.com recently caught google pirating their stuff because they used a mix of smart quotes and dumb quotes to spell out a message.
There were a couple in Michigan that were briefly famous, I think one was Umi (for University of Michigan). I also had a map that had the town of Ruby misspelled as Rudy, and I wouldn’t be surprised if that was a map trap, too.
5093458
That’s why you carry tools and duct tape for field repairs. And don’t plan too tight a travel time, where everything has to go right.
Plus, at the end of the day, it’s a lot more fun telling the story of how you robbed parts off the vehicle you were towing to keep the tow vehicle running long enough to limp home.
5094237
Eh-heh... I'd... rather not, but thanks anyway.